Markham
Commentary

Monthly thoughts on partnering with the millennial generation

Web: http://www.thommarkham.com/
Email: thom@thomarkham.com

In this issue:

Teaching 21st Century Skills in Our Best Schools: Why Not?
 

Resources Listed in this issue:

http://www.21stcenturyskills.org/

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Dear Colleague:

In my view it’s time to forward a worldwide conversation about education that has not yet taken place much in public, but which has begun to rumble through every country like a mega earthquake. I label the conversation ‘educating from within.’ At the core of the conversation is a basic fact: 50% of the world’s population is under age 25 and they will come to adulthood in a technological, globally linked world that the current generation of adults can barely foresee. Mostly, we respond to this millennial wave of youth using outdated assumptions, including the beliefs that children won’t learn unless subjected to a set of rigid standards, that schools exist to teach students to compete in a global economy, and that harnessing children to an ever-improved curriculum will finally, at last, force them to learn what they need to know.

None of this will work, or is working. I’m not the first to note this, but I do sense a new storyline emerging. First, we have learned that love, respect, and communication are better motivators than fear, meaning that educators must find ways to engage youth through personalized appeals to their dreams and aspirations. Second, youth want to cooperate, not compete. Hammering them with grim statistics about “losing the competitive edge” will yield little in the way of performance; if we want high achievement, we need to help them become skillful, knowledgeable, and passionate collaborators. And third, given the swirl of forces surrounding their lives, the children themselves—their very nature and being—is changing in ways we do not understand, meaning we had better inquire within about their state of mind and heart.

I invite you to join me in some occasional thinking about the millennial generation and how adults respond to a worldwide shift that requires us to customize learning for a global, transforming world.

-- Thom Markham, Ph.D.

Teaching 21^st Skills in Our Best Schools: Why Not?

A curious scenario has unfolded in high-end high schools across the United States.  Embedded in a system that rewards AP coursework, 4.0 GPA’s, and high SAT scores, these schools find it nearly impossible to include 21st-century skills in the curriculum—the kinds of skills virtually everyone now agrees are vital to a young person’s future.

Nor are high-performing schools generally embracing project based learning—the best method I know of to allow students to practice and master the skills necessary for success in a global, information-based, networked society. It’s a project based world, but you see little evidence of this in the ‘best’ U.S. schools. This is the case in other countries as well.

This dilemma was on my mind as I returned from conducting a PBL workshop recently. In the mix of 30 teachers from a well-regarded high school district, a group of science teachers from the highest achieving school in town responded to my message about 21^st century skills with polite smiles and unmistakable body language: “Why rock the boat? Our AP program enables most of our students to attend nameplate universities, and our parents love us because we teach a ‘rigorous’ curriculum.”

I understand the problem. Despite an urgent gap between what is taught and the pressing need to arm young people with a more relevant skill set, parents tend to prefer the more familiar ways of schooling rather than educational innovations. Also, most reform efforts currently focus on underperforming urban schools. As a result, students in small urban high schools often receive a more progressive education than their peers in affluent schools.

But it’s time to rock the boat and transform high-end schools by redefining the meaning of success itself—in 21^st century terms. So I’d like to propose some strategies for penetrating the AP culture and ensuring that every high school graduate—even our most high achieving students—has practiced and mastered the core skills that will bring success in their world.

Steps to Success

First, what are the core 21^st century skills? As I work with schools across the United States and in Canada, Malaysia, Jordan, and the United Kingdom, I see a growing consensus. On everyone’s short list of essential skills are: speaking, collaborating, learning independently, and problem solving. The list doesn’t need to get any longer. If every 18-year-old masters these skills, we will change the world.

Second, let’s assess 21^st century skills as routinely as we assess subjects like math. Organizations such as the Partnership for 21^st Century Skills are valuable resources in this area. Skills should be graded against a performance rubric, and the points recorded in the grade book. This should be standard in every high school—and it is beginning to happen. For example, during one of my workshops at the North Oxfordshire Academy in England, the teachers there suggested changing their marking system to include skills. Here in the United States, New Technology High Schools capture skills development in an electronic portfolio that tracks student progress over four years.

Third, let’s create the infrastructure that gives teachers the tools they need to teach 21^st century skills. There needs to be a surge of publications, workshops, and general classroom activities that support 21^st century skills and show teachers exactly how to teach them. The days are gone when public speaking could be covered by scheduling an oral book report for Friday. Teachers now require the same kinds of resources that corporate trainers use to teach job skills.  Plus, they need to know how to scaffold the teaching of skills, just like they help students master the five paragraph essay in 9^th grade before expecting the senior research paper.

At a minimum, teachers would benefit from training and materials in the following:

·        Public speaking and oral communication. Corporate trainers use a particular set of methods to teach people how to communicate with both small groups and larger audiences. The methods may vary, but they all rely on specific ways to improve body language, eye contact, voice, and comfort in front of an audience. Many teachers already are using oral communication rubrics. But, apart from the ones I have developed for advisory programs, I have not yet seen a standardized curriculum designed to teach public speaking in schools, with step-by-step exercises for students.

·        Collaboration. High-performance teamwork differs from group work or cooperative learning. Proven methods are now available for choosing teams, helping individuals to work together, measuring the effectiveness of the teams, and increasing productivity. Corporations use these methods routinely, yet the methodology has not been standardized or even been made available to high schools. It is time for teachers to use methods that promote successful teams—including exercises in group dynamics, listening and speaking, respectful communication, conflict resolution, reflection and feedback, and individual versus group accountability.

·        Self-management and independent learning. The mission statements of 90% of U.S. high schools include the promise to graduate independent, lifelong learners. That’s a worthy goal. To be an independent self-starter who can keep track of progress and be alert for the next opportunity is essential in today’s world. But teaching this skill means giving students the opportunity to develop independent skills—that is, the freedom to fail and the freedom to create. This can be a challenge for teachers, who have a curriculum to follow and deadlines and standards to meet.

Methods are available to help meet these goals. Standards-focused projects with well-developed assessments encourage freedom and accountability. Problem logs, ongoing goal setting, portfolios, reflective exercises, and student-led conferencing place responsibility on the student for the process of learning—not just for handing homework in on time or scoring a high grade on a test. The key is in encouraging students to measure and reflect on their own progress as they go through their four years of secondary school. Add a strong mentoring relationship, and schools will have in place a powerful and proven approach that gives young people the best possible boost to becoming independent and self-sufficient adults.

One important point: To teach 21^st century skills, teachers must first master the skills themselves, which Schools of Education rarely require. As a result, I see many teachers who may seem at ease in presenting to their students, but who lack good public speaking skills and quiver when facing parents. Similarly, teachers often have little experience in collaboration. In groups, they often interrupt, talk over one another, and tell stories rather than operating as members of a high performance team.

 Training can help immensely here. Last June, while working with principal-led teams from the North Carolina New Schools Project, I witnessed what happens when teachers learn protocols that encourage skillful collaboration. These teachers worked together with grace and ease in designing graduation outcomes and four-year plans for their new high schools. Their collaborative ability was the direct result of three years of training in communication protocols and practicing the norms of a professional learning community.

 And a final thought: The problem we face is really two-fold, particularly in high-performing schools where conversations revolve around the metrics of test scores and college admission rates. Typically, the focus is on the delivery and retention of information. Collaboration, communication, and problem-solving are not necessary for the success of this system. Instead, the end product reinforces the status quo. Another way of saying this: Until top schools embrace a culture of innovation, it is not likely they will teach 21^st century skills to their students. That is a challenge for educators, because even our most accomplished young people face a world of change.

Next issue: Balancing Project Based Learning and Direct Instruction: How do we blend knowing and doing?